Educational Insights The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game Frustration Free Packaging - Toddler Board Games for 3 Year Olds, Fine Motor Skills Toys for Toddlers, Color Matching Preschool Games

Got this for my then five year old as a form of occupational therapy to build muscle tone in her fingers with the tweezers and because she loved squirrels. She instantly loved it! Her cousins came over to play and liked it so much they got one too Now four years later, my just turned nine year old pulled this out of storage while looking for Christmas decorations in the garage where it’s been for over a year since moving. She can’t get enough of it this long Thanksgiving weekend. To be honest, this game is making me crazy. I was very happy with it when first purchased because of the fine motor practice, but I’ve played it so many times in a row the last few days, I’ve been wishing she would get bored and want to play something else because I’m the only one she has to play with, but she still loves this. Not very intellectually challenging for most kids over 6 or 7 (unless your your child has motor delays like mine then it’s still beneficial), but it’s a super cute and simple game. No need to read instructions and it’s ready to play out of the box. And that’s my favorite part, the sturdy, attractive box it comes in shaped like a tree is high quality and impressive as is the squirrel tweezers and all the pieces, very durable. My daughter wants to try the other games from this company she sees on the flyer, but as a third grader I don’t want to spend money on games that are this easy though she still needs the motor practice and strength building. I think I thought it a bit pricey when I first ordered, but we’ve definitely gotten our money’s worth.

We purchased this game a couple months ago for my 3.5 year old son as his first official board game, and he loves it! I honestly don't mind playing it with him either, and it's even more fun when we get Dad to play, too. I'd love to implement weekly "Family Game Night", and I think this is a great educational game to get the kiddos involved! Synopsis of the game: Each player gets a cardboard "tree trunk" that has 5 little holes in it that have a color surrounding the hole. The object of the game is to get one of each color acorn to fill your tree trunk. Players take turns spinning a wheel that has 5 different colors. You can also land on some other interesting spots on the wheel : - Sad squirrel: pass your turn - Storm: dump all your acorns back into the "tree" - Squirrel thief: steal an acorn from another player - 1: pick any one acorn of your choice from the playing area - 2: pick any two acorns of your choice from the playing area Things I love about this game: - Although designed for preschoolers, I don’t mind playing this game - It reinforces color matching and recognition - Using the squirrel grabber requires some motor skill (pinching motion) - We practice taking turns by passing the squirrel grabber back and forth - Winning the game is based primarily on luck and where the spinner lands; therefore, sometimes my son wins and sometimes I win. In this way, it helps teach that you can’t always win, and you can still have fun and lose the game. We always congratulate the winner when the game is over! - There can be some optional strategy involved regarding what colors to pick and when based on what colors the other players have. I think it’s a little early for my son to learn that, but I’m thinking he’ll learn that when he’s a little older. It’s nice to know that he can keep this game for a while and still grow and learn things from it. CONS: The only thing I don't necessarily care for is that the acorns are small. Which means that I need to make sure all acorns are accounted for so that my 8 month old doesn't happen to find a stray one on the floor and choke! Just keep away from little babies!

My seven year old granddaughter saw this game I got for her younger sister and she was so excited. She said they had this game in her classroom and it was her favorite. I like the very simple rules and my three year old likes the little colorful acorns. She doesn’t understand the rules so we just let her match the acorns to the appropriate color in the little log. The little squirrel to pick up the acorns is a little awkward, but not overly difficult for my five year old grandson. He does have to work at it a little, but he insists on using it every time. I think the pieces are well-made and the five year old and seven year old grandchildren really love playing the game, the three year old doesn’t grasp the concept of the game as well but as I mentioned earlier, she does like matching up the colors so she gets fun out of it as well. I think it was money well spent..

This game is excellent for teaching kids colors and (to a much lesser degree) numbers. There is also a little bit of strategy in deciding who to steal an acorn from when the spinner lands on the robber. The game consists of a log with colored rings that match colored acorns. The goal of the game is to fill your log with one of each color acorn in order to win. A spinning wheel dictates what color acorn you may choose by either directly landing on a color, landing on a wild spot that lets you choose your color, a wild spot that lets you choose 2 acorns, a robber which lets you steal an acorn from another player, or a storm that blows all of your acorns away. While we really like this game, there are a couple of things to be aware of: First, the game comes with a set of squirrel-shaped "tweezers" to pick up the acorns with. There is only one set so, if you are using them, you will need a lot of patients as the kids struggle to pick up acorns and place them before passing the squirrel to the next player. Next, this is a competitive game. If you are playing with kids that are competitive by nature, you may find the game getting heated as acorns get blown away or stolen. In my opinion, this makes for a great teaching opportunity... Finally, the acorns are small and rubber. This presents a choking hazard for smaller kids who tend to put things in their mouths. Our 2-year-old understands how to play and loves this game. At first, though, we really had to watch him to make sure he wasn't chewing on the acorns.

Overall, this is a fun and educational game for young children. My daughter is three years old so we have trouble finding fun games for her age bracket. She loves squirrels and acorns so I thought this would be a good game for her. The box itself is very cute, as you can see from the picture. My sister saw it on the shelf and said, "That's the cutest game box I think I've ever seen." The inside of the box has a tree print (one big tree) and this is where you store the acorns while you're playing. The game comes with acorns with different colored tops, a spinner, log slices in which to collect your acorns, and an acorn grabber in the shape of a squirrel. The acorn grabber and the acorns are a nice material. The grabber is plastic and sturdy and the acorns are plastic and rubber-like and nice. However, the spinner is just a flimsy piece of cardboard with a plastic arrow on it and the log slices are cardboard and hollow (without a bottom). I was disappointed at the quality of those two items. I wish at least the log slices were plastic for better wear and tear. The game itself is fun for young children. You spin the spinner and collect acorns with the squirrel grabber, depending on what you land on. You might land on a color (grab an acorn of that color), a number (grab that number of acorns of any color), a sad squirrel (which means you lose all of your acorns) or a thief squirrel (which means you get to steal an acorn from another player). Whoever fills up their log slice with each color of acorn first is the winner. This game is educational in that it teaches colors, counting, turn-taking, and gripping (fine motor skills). It's easy for my three-year-old to play without much explaining. She enjoys playing it and so do we. It's probably more fun for us than her other games. It also goes by quickly enough that she doesn't get bored.

Beautiful game and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the squirrel! It is thick plastic and looks like it wont crack or get broken easily by rough children. I am using this for ESL preschool and elementary school students. So far I have used this with five to seven-year old students. They all loved the design and got really excited to play. Immediately they started touching everything and made me nervous that they were going to peel off the sticker covering the tree stump. Some students also poked the tree stumps holes and tried to jam the acorns in deeper instead of just setting the acorns in place so I had to tell them to stop or they would've made giant holes or ripped them since they are just made out of card board. Kids are so curious, I guess! So I kind of wish the tree stumps were made of plastic as well, although they look nice made out of card board. I told my students they couldn't use their other hand to place the acorn in the hole and to only use the squirrel--it was actually quite challenging! I could see some children getting frustrated with the squirrel pincher. It is bulky and hard to pick up only the tip of the acorn with, but I like that it is challenging. Since it was hard for even first graders, I cannot imagine how three-year olds would play this and if they would be gently with it, but every child is different so this is just my experience so far! I guess you could allow younger children to use both hands, but then they wouldn't be developing their fine motor skills.

I bought this game for my almost 3 year old grandson for Christmas. It is the first board game he understands. He loves it! It teaches color matching, one-to-one correspondence, fine motor control using the "squirrel", taking turns, losing, winning, how to use a spinner, losing a turn, losing all the acorns, simple strategy (which person to take acorns from), and more. The best part is all the adults want to play it with him (only child) because they enjoy it, too. The game moves fast enough for their attention spans. I'm going to get another one for my relatives.

We love love love this game! It is one of our favorites for family game night and it is one of my top birthday presents we buy for our kids’ friends. I love the bottom of the box is part of the game so clean up is a breeze! The squirrel squeezer is so cute and I love how my kids (ages 2.5 and 4) are working on their fine motor skills. The game also teaches them how to match, their colors, and how to take turns. It is such a fun game and the game pieces itself are high quality and durable that I know this game will last for years to come. I think there are so many different ways to play this game even with older kids to keep them engaged. Highly recommend!

Very nice design, strong and resistant. My son is 3 and loves it.

Great quality

Muy bonito juego! Lo compré para mi niña de 2 años y medio y le gustó mucho. Sirve para aprender los colores. Todavía no puede agarrar bien las pinzas de ardilla pero puede agarrarlo también con las manos. Súper padre para jugar con tus hijos.

Excelente juego para los pequeños de la casa, para que aprendan los colores y coordinar. Para pasar agradables ratos en familia

Exactly as described.